It’s a little known fact that me and my friend Robin are Olympic level Ms. Pac-Man players. We honed our skills in college when there was a Ms. Pac-Man machine in our dining hall, and it’s been magic ever since. Here we are ten years ago:
And when we stumbled upon hunted down a Ms. Pac-Man machine when we were in Providence, RI this weekend, we had to hold a reenactment, not too unlike Civil War reenactments in all their splendor and magnificence:
Here’s to ten years of Pac-awesomeness and tens and tens more.
Oh that is AWESOME! you guys look like kids in the first photo, I mean like middle school! Actually, Craiggers, you’re looking kinda Ianto-esque in the first one.
Glad you guys had so much fun!
HUGS….
I’m afraid I was always (still am) too uncoordinated to play Pac-Man of any type. You guys still look adorable. You guys must have been like the Grandpa/mas of the arcade now. All those young whipper snappers playing these days. Wait, do kids even go to arcades? They all have Wiis and PSwhatevers at home. Arcades are probably full of old people trying to recapture their youth.
Hope you had a fun time in RI.
That is too funny!
Robin was really nice. It was great to meet her and you in person!
Great post Craig! You two both look very much the same as ten years ago…more mature though…and I don’t mean old. I’m am not much of a video game guy but, like you, my boyfriend has a huge appreciation for Ms. Pacman. He is quite good. Anytime we are anywhere near an arcade, we have to search out the Ms Pacman/Galaga machine.
I was more of a Centipede gal, myself. You and Robin have mastered looking formidable and adorable at the same time.
You both look better now. Congratz.
Robin looks so good right now. She’s really pretty. ;D
& I like ya in both versions. XD When U were my age U looked so much better than I do right now. ;>
You both look so serious. Is this going to be a tradition?
Polt: Speaking of Ianto, I picked up Torchwood Series 1 at a used book store yesterday.
He looks kind of Ianto-esque in both actually. oh Ianto…i miss him
a) WHERE THE HELL is your review of the entire series of ST:TNG or AT LEAST your review of the series finale?!?!?!?!
b) At my age I can’t say this about myself but MAN YOU ARE CUTER NOW THAN YOU WERE 10 YEARS AGO!!!! This appears to be something of a consensus amongst your monkeys already but I just wanted to spell that out
c) @Michelle — how did I miss that we were video-game soul-mates? Centipede was my favorite game “back in the day”. LORD knows how many quarters I spent on that game. I got to the point of being able to cycle round all the levels 3 times.
My second favorite game was Tempest (got kind of good at that but it’s much harder than Centipede) and Q*Bert (the gayest of all possible video games).
When I had my last cell phone, a Nokia (pre-smartphone), Verizon offered a perfect replica of the atari arcade version of Centipede and I used to play it constantly. iTunes *used* to offer a set of Atari games but they got pulled THE DAY BEFORE I BOUGHT MY IPOD TOUCH!!!!! I was so pissed!
I’m with Ryan — I vote for this to be a tradition: assuming you can FIND a Pac Man aracade machine when you’re 38
And Craig is much cuter than Ianto.
I was a Galaga man myself, actually. My best friend Trudy and I had the top ten scores on the local machine.
you got to meet john too? So with you and Tam actually meeting him in person, me must be real!
And Robin DOES look much better in the second shot! hubbahubba!
HUGS…
Adorbz.
You have both filled out nicely and look more self assured now.
It may be sacrilege to ask, but is there a difference between Ms. Pacman and Pacman?
I think I had a brief Centipede addiction in my youth. It was so fun, and sometimes frustrating. I also enjoyed Space Invaders. I actually wrote an experimental demo game that was loosely inspired by it. I like the simplicity of video games from that era. Some of the newer games that came out in my teens just made me dizzy if I played too long. I suppose that prevented me from becoming a big video game guy.
Jesus, Chris, you’re old enough to even REMEMBER space invaders?! I feel slightly better.
What a flippin’ coincidence. Last week I ALSO played Ms. Pac-Man arcade game while down @ the Jerseee Shore!
In my office’s conference room, there is a huge Pac-Man arcade console. Reason #3,245 I LOVe mah place of employment.
Justin: Should making you feel young, make me feel old?
I first encountered Space Invaders on the Atari video game system (in the mid 80′s I think).
Ok, I feel old again
I first encountered Space Invaders in my college’s game room — which consisted of a pool table, a foosball game, and a space invaders console — in my sophomore year: so either the fall/winter of 79 or the winter/spring of 80.
By 1982 a game like Space Invaders seemed ludicrously out of date: one step ahead of Pong. By the time I stopped going to video arcades in 1984ish, even games like Centipede seemed clunky and out of date and they were already beginning to do (very crude) quasi-realistic animation.
Chris: Yay for Atari! That was my primary source of video games until I started to occasionally play The Simpsons or TMNT or X-Men at the arcade.
Gauntlet was my major money pit back in grade school, damn green elf cost me like $100 in quarters!
Cupcake: I remember going to the arcade and playing TMNT non stop, pumping quarters into that hungry machine, tagging in and out with the other kids as necessities (pizza, root beer, and bathroom) required, until I finished the entire game. Sometimes I really miss that arcade… Then I remember the wedgies from the bored high school bullies who would prowl the arcade too and I get over it.
Actually I’m surprised you guys (20somethings) even HAD arcades to play at. I thought it was all home gaming consoles by the time you were growing up. Popping quarters into machines seems so 1980s
“wedgies” … *chuckle*
Ahem… 20somethings? Who around here… Oh, wait… Yeah. I always forget that the age distribution of puntabuland is so wide. Since I have not met any other dancing monkeys in real life I just picture everyone in my mind as being around my age, except for Josh and Enrico who are still in diapers, I kid!
So, where are all the other 30somethings out there?
AFAIK I am the oldest puntabupeep. I would be thoroughly pleased if you were to take that mantle off my shoulders but I’m not holding out much hope
Oh … just read the last line … so … yeah … still the oldest.
Chris D is 31/32 I think; Adam is 30; Mikey 30/31 I think; David P, Tam, John, Polt, Paul and I are in our 40s (I turn 50 in October); Michelle is (I think) 30something; Craig is 28 and I think Ryan is 27; Enrico is (I think) 21 and Josh is (I think) 24; Justin S is 31/32
Ms. Pac-Man? Yay! Then you need to come up to Westchester. When I started teaching, my first big purchase was a full size Ms. Pac-Man arcade machine. It’s situated in my basement awaiting players.
One day, I hope it will be joined by Tapper.
OMG that’s amazing FDot! I’m so there!
That *IS* amazing!
I guess all Polt would have needed all these years is a Pac-Man machine.
I am true to Robotron.
By the way, Robin can use my joystick any time she wants…
http://xkcd.com/322/
Hahaha! You have no idea how many time I would have LOVED to do that!
@Ryan — that is one of my absolute *favorite* xkcd’s of all time.
Sadly, it was the last nail in the coffin of any hope I ever had that Randall Monroe might not be straight … *sigh*
Justin: I think I had fully integrated that fact before I ever realized how cute he is.
See, I saw how cute he was first. And he comes across in his youtube video of his lecture at Google as not being *THE* most butch guy on the planet. But yeah. Sadly. He is definitely not batting for our team
(and he lives in Somerville — I keep hoping to run into him at a local eatery)
Justin: Glad I’m not the only guy who found him quite attractive. I also initially wondered if he was gay. I came to the conclusion that he probably wasn’t.
If it makes you feel better, I just discovered that Chase Whiteside, the guy who does interviews at Tea Party rallies, is gay and single.
Ryan: He is cute. I’ve seen his videos before. They are entertaining. However, I am generally not a fan of that somewhat “Straw Man” style. I suspect that one can find dimwitted supporters at any political event (conservative or liberal). I suppose this kind of thing has some value. It just sometimes makes my philosophical side cringe a little bit. I prefer to here debate between the strongest arguments of competing causes, not to just laugh at the weakest arguments. I’m sure I am too serious.
ack! here = hear
aaaaactually, Chris, I’m afraid I don’t believe that there IS any “strong argument” for the teaparty cause. In fact I find it borderline terrifying that their views are taken remotely seriously by the press — just like I would find it terrifying if the press put somebody on the air who claimed the earth was flat and treated them as a “valid point of view”. There are strains of conservatism that have valid insights — some of which I may have sympathy with, most of which I happen to disagree with — but this is not one of them.
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